Quiapo Journey And Dimsum Heaven :) :) :) :)

- January 3, 2011 (Happy New Year!!)

- We three eat-kateers planned to have this new year dimsum date so:

1. I can give Clarisse' yearbook to her (it's been with me for around a month already.)

2. Clarisse can give Marga and me our souvenirs from Vietnam. (Welcome back!!)

3. Marga could celebrate her very belated birthday with us (and give us our pasalubong from her recent HK trip.)

- We were scheduled to meet around 2:30 in Golden Fortune Soler, since the afternoon discount for the dimsum and shabu-shabu would start around that time. However, I left the house earlier so I could go around Quiapo; my feet had been itching to go to Quiapo for several days now.

- I was able to go to three "areas" of Quiapo today. First, I went around Carriedo, and saw a neon-orange belt that simply called to me. It was worth 150 pesos, much more inexpensive than the neon-colored belts I saw in Divisoria and 168 a month ago. (Too bad they didn't have stocks of orange belts too.) Seeing that nothing else special was going on- except maybe for the lack of people- I decided to visit Villalobos Street.

- Villalobos street can may as well be dubbed as a bead-and-accessory heaven. Rows of stores selling ready-made accessories and beads that are reasonably-priced can be found there. My mom told me about this street days ago, after she was able to find her exotic, and almost-authentic Tibetan-inspired turquoise necklace.

- I was able to buy a set of pre-made necklaces that looked Tibetan or Bhutanese. The necklaces had strings attached to the middle, where people can add pendants. Luckily, I had several keychains at home that I badly wanted to use as necklace pendants. Yay Villalobos Street!!

- Of course, my journey to Quiapo won't be complete after a visit to Hidalgo, the "Muslim capital" of Manila. I was happy to see that the dome of the Golden Mosque was being restored to its former golden luster (hence the name,) and that I was able to see many good stuff in that area. What took me a long time in that area after buying some Muslim jewelry for men, was looking for the stall where I used to buy DVD's of international classical hard-to-find films. One of the sellers of a store selling Muslim attires recognized me, and told me that the store I was looking for was now converted as their clothes-store's extension.

- Although it broke my heart to see the store where I used to buy DVD's of classical movies was already converted to a Muslim-attire store, I was able to buy myself a noble black thawb. (Yay picture!!) I also found out that the mother of the seller was the owner of the DVD stall I was looking for. I guess that's why it was easy to convert the former DVD stall to the clothes-store's extension.

- I soon received a text that Marga was on her way, which meant that I had to start walking to Soler. And as always, even if I was "behind schedule," I still found myself the first to arrive at Golden Fortune. Clarisse followed shortly, and finally, Margarette.

- Clarisse gave Marga and I bookmarks from Vietnam. Marga received a bookmark with a lady wearing a hanbok, while I received a bookmark with Russian lady wearing the traditional Russian garment. (Ona ochen krasivaya!!/ She's very beautiful!!) What made these bookmarks special was that the meticulous details were made from rolled strips of paper. The store where Clarisse bought the bookmarks from specialized in roller-paper crafts. (Her family was able to buy 3-D statues of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals, all of which were made from rolled paper. Amazing, huh??)

- Of course, needless to say, we ordered a tableful of dimsum and noodles, while we talked about Clarisse' trip, Marga's Korean addiction, and my ambitions of going to places, as well as my love for languages and cultures.

- My crave for Quiapo's wonders was partially satisfied, although a whole afternoon (or day) of Quiapo would be better. As for dimsum, well, my tummy can't say anything; it's full and currently sleeping. (Thanks Marga and Clarisse!!)